FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a conventional communications network 100 including a number of wall plate assemblies 102a-d through which various devices are connected to the network, such as wireless routers 104, 106, a camera 108, a workstation 110, and a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phone 112. Each of these devices 104-112 plugs into the corresponding wall plate assembly 102 to communicate over a corresponding horizontal cable 114a-d to a midspan patch panel 116 contained in a network equipment rack 118. The midspan patch panel 116 includes a number of ports, with each port being coupled to a corresponding horizontal cable 114 typically through an insulation displacement connector (IDC). The midspan patch panel 116 interconnects each port to which a horizontal cable 114 is coupled to an associated port which is typically a modular jack such as an RJ-45 jack. Patch cables 120 interconnect each port on the midspan patch panel 116 to a corresponding port of a network switch 122.
The network switch 122 functions to inspect data packets that are received from one of the devices 104-112 or an external device via the Internet or other external network coupled to the switch. The network switch 122 inspects each data packet to determine a source and destination address of each packet and to thereafter forward the packet to the desired destination address. The detailed operation of the network switch 122 and patch panel 116 will be understood by those skilled in the art and thus, for the sake of brevity, will not be described herein in detail. Also note that in the present description when referring generally to any one of a number of components (e.g, wall plate assemblies 102a-d) the letter designation may be omitted and only when referring to a specific one of the components (e.g, wall plate assembly 102a) will the letter designation be included.
In operation of the network 100, a device such as a laptop computer communicates data packets via to the wireless router 104 or 106 which, in turn, are communicated via the corresponding wall plate assembly 102a or 102b over the corresponding horizontal table 114a or 114b and through the midspan patch panel 116 to the network switch 122. Upon receipt of such a data packet, the network switch 122 determines a destination address contained in the data packet and thereafter routes the data packet to this destination address. For example, if the first laptop computer communicating with wireless router 104 is sending an email to the second laptop communicating with the wireless router 106, the network switch 122 would receive this packet from the first laptop computer and send it to the second laptop computer.
Conventional networks such as the network 100 are vulnerable to being accessed by unauthorized individuals. This is true because although only for wall plate assemblies 102a-d are shown in FIG. 1, a typical network such as a network in a large corporation will include hundreds or even thousands of such wall plate assemblies and multiple network equipment racks 118 contained, for example, in different buildings of the corporation. Moreover, many of these wall plate assemblies 102 may be in offices or even entire floors within a building that are at least temporarily unoccupied by employees of the corporation. Even though contained in unoccupied offices or floors, as the cost of ports on the patch panel 116 and network switch 122 has gotten relatively inexpensive, such wall plate assemblies 102 even in unoccupied areas remain active, meaning they remain connected to the associated patch panel 116 and network switch 122.
An unauthorized individual, upon gaining entry to one of the corporate buildings and gaining access to a wall plate assembly 102 in such an unoccupied office or floor, need merely connect a device such as a laptop computer to the wall plate assembly 102 to thereby gain access to the network. While there may be security measures in place on the network 100 such as authentication software to prevent such an unauthorized user from accessing network resources even though connected, a sophisticated unauthorized user can in a relatively short time defeat most such measures, thus leaving the network vulnerable.
Another need that arises in conventional communication networks such as the network 100 is the ability to identify the physical location from where a particular user is accessing the network. For example, an authorized user such as an employee having permissible access to the network 100 may have a VoIP phone 112 which that user may utilize in a variety of different locations other than his or her office. When in a meeting in a conference room, for instance, this user may step out of the meeting and to find a wall plate assembly 102 in which to plug in his or her VoIP phone and make a phone call. Such an employee could even do so while at home if remotely connected to the network 100. As a result, there is presently no way of knowing where the employee is physically located. In the event of an emergency, such as the employee suffering a heart attack or having some other medical emergency, emergency personnel responding to a call by the employee or to a call from another person to which the user was talking when the medical emergency arises have no way of knowing where the employee is physically located. These medical emergency personnel may show up at the employee's office while he is in another office in the building, or within another building entirely, or even at home.